Young Social Entrepreneur

After being invited to participate in a visit be Tower Hamlets Council Executives to our parent charities youth centre, Limehouse Youth Club, I wasn’t expecting to walk away with some key contacts for taking Gateway Media forward. However on arrival I realised that those present, as well as the council staff, were in fact directors from the BBC and Channel 4. They were there to find out more about how they could get involved in helping disadvantaged young people.

Our star apprentice-come-employee, Shaal Karim, gave a short presentation and showed them the City Gateway Promo video we produced, which they were all suitably impressed with. Then we went on to have a round table discussion with the broadcast executives speaking directly with young people about the issues they face and how they could get involved and help.

I found the day to be really encouraging and also went away with a commitment from Channel Fours Chief Information Officer to meet. At this meeting not only was the CIO there but also the head of design and new media and the project manager for the Paralympic Games. We had some really good ideas of how we can work together going forward.

Shaal also made valuable contacts and after a chat with the Head of Four Talent she put him in touch with the British Film Institute who selected him for the role of Assistant Junior Camera Operator on a feature film called ‘Rafter Rafter’. This was a 6 week paid shoot and a great opportunity for Shaal to gain valuable skills and to further his career in the industry. It’s really encouraging to see him go from trainee to apprentice, to full time member of staff and then to be involved in a feature film! Shaal is now back in the Gateway Media office working on our corporate films and we can already tell he learned so much from the experience.

The latest opportunity that has come from the visit was the positive PR we expect to gain from a Channel Four broadcast crew coming to our offices to talk about how we benefited from the broadcasters visit. I gave an interview - it’s funny to be on the other side of the camera, my only other experience was acting in an extra role as a soldier in an episode of BBC panorama whilst at uni.